Lacrimaeque Laetitia Cantus: Exposition
by Hieda no Akyuu
Summary: Reboot of the Dream that cannot be destroyed.
1. Shards of Illusionary Record 6

**Music: "Hello!" by EastNewSound**

* * *

A cloudless night hangs over the land of the sunflowers late into the night. The full moon, peering over Gensokyou in a similar fashion as a child looks into the bowl of a goldfish, blesses the sunflowers with the reflection of the moon's rays, hanging over them like a Christmas ornament dangling from its branch of the Christmas tree over the presents below. There are no clouds with which to spoil the moon or the stars that likewise shine their cheerful brightness through the cosmic space to appear as twinkling dots around the moon. Only a kind of shroud that allows both the darkness of the night and the light of the moon and stars to mingle together among the field of sunflowers is present, exclusively illuminating the field of such jovial plants and nothing else in this night.

One may wonder where the sunflowers would face their legions of brown, fuzzy peach-like facades, for it is the night, and there is no sun for them to gaze at to spend the time. They do not understand the moon or its gentle offer of sunrays from its reflection, for it is not in their namesake. Only upon the sun can they rely for guidance in their lives - the moon is only a simple impostor attempting to be even a sliver of what the sun is during the dark hours of hopelessness called night. Even on the brightest of nights, the sunflowers refuse to follow the moon throughout the night.

But tonight, the sunflowers in the land of the sun are following the moon's gaze. For this night only, the denizens of the field of sunflowers all face the point where the moonlight is being concentrated the most. Rather, it is more accurate to say that it is not necessarily directly because of the moon that they are looking at a specific point in the field of sunflowers, but instead because of what lies there.

In the flattest plains of the land of the sunflowers, next to a small rock altar that resembles nothing more humble than an ordinary stone that one may find whilst hiking on a large mountain, lie three women.

A family. A mother, a daughter, an inseparable friend.

One can only imagine how much time has elapsed since the night has discovered them here on this spot. The moon would have liked to keep the time, but even then it cannot be sure if its own measurement is correct. Only the sunflowers know - the kind of information the moon itself would never be able to receive from them. But to the moon, such information is irrelevant. The sunflowers are better timekeepers anyway.

In fact, to the moon, it seems as though there is an absolute lack of time. It is not a question of how long these girls have laid there on the supple, warm grass that its own rays have kept warm for them, but instead one of how much longer they would remain. It is not a question of considering time to be a factor in this strange land of sunflowers, but instead one of how to keep it out.

In a way that not even a certain knife-wielding maid ever could.

The moon does not know why it has awoken from its daytime slumber to spy upon this scene of three women, cuddling one another like a litter of newborn puppies, with such intensity. It has seen this scene many times within its own lifetime. But it knows that this one in particular is especially important.

Perhaps the moon should become a second sun.

At this time, one of these girls stirs. A tall one, laying on her right side. Her long bright blonde hair that drapes down past her waist and down to the backs of her knees spills across the grass, tempting the sunflowers that stand witness to its beauty. Her signature red ribbon, battered, ripped, soiled, is still tied strong to her head. Her arms lay around another girl's shoulders and chest as her forehead barely scrapes that of the other.

No one, not even the sunflowers or the moon, would have guessed that the girl in the middle is the queen of the mightiest nation that Gensokyou has ever seen.

If they had known, they would also bring up the question of what such a queen is doing, sleeping like a peasant among a field of sunflowers. But, then again, if anyone can have the strength and the will to forge together a nation of such description, who is to say that this sovereign must necessarily act like one?

The blonde girl, whose hair detracts from her companions' straight black, nudges the forehead of the other lady who nestles the girl who is the image of this alleged royalty. Opening her eyes for a brief moment, shorter than what most humans would consider to be a second, she gazes upon her friends, the mother and the daughter.

It is almost as if she is reassuring herself that they are still with her.

And just like that, she slips back into their darkness of sleep. Deprived of any sort of worry of the world around them, devoid of any kind of pain or consequence the night would otherwise have on them.

From a small dirt road just a few paces away from this rock altar, two more pairs of eyes join the moon and the stars and the sunflowers in the spectacle, both of whom are toting umbrellas.

"So this is where they were all this time."

"Indeed. Take care not to disturb them, yes?"

"My sunflowers have already told me so. I have made sure to do just that."

The voices are instantly drained from the air into the vacuum of the darkness for a few moments.

"Do you think...that perhaps they would have come to enjoy another moment like this on their own accord?"

"Fufufu...your guess is, I would say, better than mine. You have lived much longer with them than I. You know very well that now, as was then, I am always simply a bystander. I take much more bliss in having watched this all unfold."

"Then allow me to rephrase my question. As a bystander, would you have foreseen this?"

"...I will not say that I had expected their course of events to lead them here. But...somehow, it is not surprising."

"How so?"

"How should I put this...when the strongest person in Gensokyou befriends another who is the essence of the balance of Gensokyou itself, the kinds of things they could do together is, quite frankly, limitless."

"Despite the fact that the reason why they are able to spend another night like this is not due to any of their own individual efforts?"

"Even still, to me, it's still not very surprising."

The pair of red eyes in the master of sunflowers gazes up at the large moon, who stares back.

"He left them quite the parting gift, didn't he."

The other pair of eyes closes instead.

"Indeed. Indeed, he did."

The girl considered a queen bumps her forehead against the bosom of her mother. Her cheeks are stained with the long-dried residue of salt, of which only the sunflowers know why there are there.


	2. Takeover

_Remilia_ | "We have tripped the enemy sensors with our push; all that is left is to eliminate hostile signatures and retake the castle and the castle grounds! I want a clean sweep of the area and ensure none of the opposition gets out of this alive! And above all, do not harm the castle! Is that understood!?"

The mountains roar with tens of thousands of "_HA, MA'AM!_" as the units of the Northern Hakurei Army come barreling down the sides of the mountains to the north of the Scarlet Devil Mansion to claim their objective.

_Sakuya_ | "Reporting, hostile units spotted within 5 miles of the castle. Lodestar shall provide air coverage. I shall remain, Milady."

_Remilia_ | "What do you intend to do, Sakuya?"

_Sakuya_ | "Cover our flank. Because we are leading a spearhead into an enemy line of defense, it is highly likely that our foes will attempt to converge around us to trap us."

_Remilia_ | "Very well, I shall leave that task to you. Callsign Lodestar, confirm status."

_Marisa (K-6 Lodestar)_ | "_Yeah, yeah, I hear ya. Payloads ready ta rock'n roll_."

From a stratospheric level, the Ordinary Witch has her not-so-ordinary star-shaped magic runes, triple-layered with Japanese scripts, locked into place behind her, charged to the brim with explosive magic energy as she rides saddle-side on her broom.

_Marisa (K-6 Lodestar)_ | "_Righty~o. K-6 Lodestar is now standin' by, call the shot._"

_Alice (Left Flank) _| "All ground forces, be advised, Seraph advance guards have been deployed onto our position! They seem to know that our objective is the castle!"

_Remilia_ | "No matter! Fighters, you are cleared to engage!"

About three hundred meters above the mountains, nearly a thousand tengu support fighters, a third of whom are equipped with dedicated air-to-air AGM-10's, pick up speed upon Remilia's order.

_Pilot 1-1 _| "_Opening initiation, bearing 1, 3-0. Bombs away._"

The moonlit night masks the flight trajectories of the Hakurei air support as the fighters scream towards their targets. From Remilia's point of view, the grounds around her castle are peppered by fist-sized fireballs that carpet the horizon. In addition, the skyline above the castle, too, is sprinkled with similar but rounder fireballs that further light up the sky like fireworks.

_Pilot 1-1 _| "_Initiation process complete, circling back for strafe runs._"

_Meiling (Front Flank)_ | "I'll lead the charge, ma'am! Everyone, on me!"

Meiling's monk unit, leading the vanguard, begins to pull away from the rest of the army, accelerating faster towards the enemy positions as the tengu fighters constantly bombard and harass the Seraphs, weakening their positions and thinning their numbers for the main army.

_Remilia | _"Lodestar, commence Attack Order 'Distant Thunder' once Gatekeeper is signature is within 200m of the enemy!"

_Marisa (K-6 Lodestar)_ | "_I hear ya, trackin' Gatekeeper's ETA._"

_Patchouli_ _(Rear Flank)_ | "Callsign Devil, I am detecting a large contingency of aerial Seraph fighters circling around our left flank. They appear to be attempting a rear flank attack on my position."

_Remilia _| "Callsign Little Devil, take Flan and her unit and back up the rear flank. Bookkeeper will not withstand such an attack without heavy losses otherwise."

_Koakuma_ _(Central Guard)_ | "Understood, repositioning!"

_Remilia_ | "Flan, if you see any enemies, you can go ahead and kill them all, okay?"

_Flandre (Central Guard)_ | "Okay, Onee-sama! Flan'll kill everyone, ahaha~!"

_Meiling_ _(Vanguard_) | "We're about to hit the first enemy unit! Contact imminent!"

_Wingman 2-1_ | "_All friendly aerial signatures, pull back, ground friendlies in our AO. Can't be bombing our own guys down there. Air to ground forces, air support will be on standby for additional airstrike support. Wingman 2-1 out._"

The nearly thousand-strong tengu air force cease their strafe runs and pull back, their wings screeching against the night air back to the relative safety of the airspace above the mountains north of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, flying directly over Meiling's monk unit that is about to assault the battered frontal Seraph lines.

_Marisa (K-6 Lodestar)_ | "_I'll breach deir position fer ya, Gatekeeper! Rifle away!_"

A flash of bright yellow light can be seen like a newborn star in the stratospheric night sky, and a few seconds pass before the corresponding thunder booms over the land as a single, powerful magic discharge, propelled by a star-shaped magic rune and shaped like a torpedo, rockets down to the ground and detonates, punching a nearly 75-meter gap in the Seraph defensive line of foot soldiers who have hastily assembled to meet Meiling's initial troops.

_Meiling (Vanguard) _| "We have contact! Move in, everyone!"

The monk troops of Meiling's unit roar as they begin battle with the Seraph troops behind the defensive line, about five miles from the castle.

_Alice (Left Flank__) _| "We're moving! Lodestar, provide covering fire while my dolls move in to support Gatekeeper's breach!"

The massive doll army with Alice Margatroid at its epicenter takes to flight to quickly cover the distance between her unit and Meiling's, flying to cover Meiling's left flank.

_Marisa (K-6 Lodestar)_ | "_Confirmin' kill order, taggin' targets! Mark!_"

Marisa's runes launch three missiles at once that home into designated coordinates that Marisa has tagged for her armaments, causing the Seraph troops converging on Meiling's lone unit to become distracted and disperse to take cover from the deadly magic missiles.

_Remilia_ | "Let us join the fray as well! Troops, move in to engage!"

Remilia's unit also rushes towards the front lines, with Remilia leading the charge, eager to retake her mansion and to fight optimally in the moonlight. They quickly overtake Alice's comparatively rather slow unit and rush straight past.

_Alice _| "Callsign Devil, be advised, multiple enemy archer units spotted behind the castle, towards the main entrance! There aren't very many troops, but we don't have very many ranged soldiers with us, either!"

_Remilia_ | "You recently made up with that witch friend of Patchy's and yours, right? There is our answer! Request artillery support for us - I just hope that she does not ruin my property in the process!"

_Alice _| "Ugh, do _I_ need to do it...?"

Unwillingly, Alice barks at Marisa over her comms.

_Alice_ | "Lodestar, uplinking coordinates to enemy archer units! Requesting fire mission, now!"

_Marisa_ | "_Copy! Establish left-hand orbit, 10,000 feet AGL! Missiles away!_"

As Alice and the rest of the Hakurei army advance closer to the castle, massive explosions detonate in front of the mansion grounds, sending bodies fly and tumble limply through the air.

_Patchouli (Rear Guard) _| "Callsign Timekeeper, be advised, multiple squadrons of Seraph flyers headed in your direction!"

_Sakuya (Right Flank) _| "They are trying to go for a flank attack in conjunction with the enemies behind us! We shall stop them here!"

_Koakuma (Central Guard) _| "Protect Bookkeeper's position as they advance! Do not let anyone past us!"

Just as Sakuya had predicted, the two Seraph attacks strike simultaneously, one hitting hard into Sakuya's unit and the other into the tight wall that the units of Koakuma and Flandre had formed, but both formations hold steady.

_Stalker 3-3 _| "_Marking targets, shifting execution priority!_"

Upon multiple calls for air support, another handful of anti-air tengu fighters dash in from the surrounding mountains and engage in melee combat with swords and spears, choosing to conserve their heavy munitions for proper airstrikes and to avoid friendly fire. Soon, the attackers' numbers thin to the point where the Seraphs are compelled to retreat.

_Patchouli (Rear Guard) _| "We are almost to the castle grounds! Once we get into position, I will destroy the rest of the army!"

_Koakuma_ _(Central Guard)_ | "But Patchouli-sama, you're still sick! You are not in any condition to launch any large-scale spellcard right now!"

_Patchouli (Rear Guard) _| "Do as I say, Koakuma! This is an order! My well-being can be questioned after the castle is retaken! I will not forgive any of our adversaries if they have touched any of my rare books in my library!"

Alice, meanwhile, tugs on her puppet strings, and nearly five hundred dolls fire Shanghai lasers at several ranks of Seraphs advancing behind Remilia's unit. Her unit, along with the units of Meiling and Remilia, are busy combating hostiles along the east wall. Remilia's extremely lengthy Spear the Gungnir, illuminating the night with its deep scarlet bolts of light, can be seen slicing apart the night.

_Koakuma (Central Guard) _| "Another group of aerial fighters coming in! They seem to be intercepting our course to reinforce the others!"

_Flandre (Central Guard) _| "Ahahaha, _kyuu~_"

Squeezing her right hand at the incoming Seraph flyers, Flandre rocks the sky with an ear-splitting explosion that swallows almost all of the enemies in the air whole.

_Flandre (Central Guard) _| "Flandre got 'em! Hahahahahahaaaaa, everybody, let's move up and have some more fun!"

Cackling madly, Flandre breaks formation and surges forth to apply pressure to the troops that are assaulting Alice's position. Sakuya's unit swiftly follows, as Sakuya wants to make sure nothing happens to Flandre on the battlefield.

_Marisa (K-6 Lodestar)_ | "_Multiple foot mobiles wit weapons observed! Relay ta higher ground force, commanda goin' kinetic!_"

_Stalker 1-5 _| "_Activating Ignite Afterburners, friendly carpet bombing inbound!_"

The battle to reclaim the Scarlet Devil Mansion rages on as the night is set ablaze with the pounding of artillery and air support of the Hakurei pummeling the unprepared Seraph army.

* * *

_Tenshi _| "Are we too late?"

The Princess of the Scarlet Weather Rhapsody reinforcements, flanked by her second-in-command Nagae Iku, is within a mile of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. A good hour and a half has passed since the Northern Hakurei Army's assault on SDM in a move to reclaim it, but the reinforcements that Tenshi and Iku have brought have received no update or report regarding the situation. But as far as Tenshi can see, the fields are scattered with the bodies of her soldiers who have valiantly fallen defending their turf. However, not a single Hakurei soldier is in sight, and the castle itself appears vacant. It has remained unscathed throughout the battle.

_Iku _| "Eldest Daughter, our sensors are not detecting any enemy presence in that castle. In fact, we do not know where they have gone. It is as if they attacked simply to break our position here, or perhaps to recover something from the castle and withdraw immediately."

_Tenshi_ | "No. No, no no no. They're still here, goddamn it. What kind of an army'll attack and just withdraw like that without somehow consolidating their victory? Doesn't make any fucking sense. All troops, move forward! They're still around here somewhere, be on guard for them!"

* * *

The reinforcements of Seraph cavalry, Messenger, and swordsmen advance steadily and carefully, making sure that they do not sense enemy presence too late with their approach.

Sakuya, the head maid, peering through a curtain on the third floor of the mansion, looks at the incoming army approaching steadily from the south.

_Meiling_ | "Ahhhh, it's nice to be back, isn't it, Sakuya?"

_Sakuya_ | "While I do not deny that it is pleasant to be back in Milady's mansion, we have a more pressing issue, as you can clearly see."

The maid points out the window for Meiling to see.

_Meiling_ | "Ohhh, that's a problem, isn't it...I'm sure Ojou-sama will take care of it, though..."

_Sakuya _| "We must maintain our duty and be on guard to defend the mansion. What should ensue if Milady's plan of attack does not succeed?"

_Meiling _| "Haha, Sakuya, you're funny. The one person who'd I'd expect to doubt Ojou-sama's plan to fail is you, so why the doubt now?"

_Sakuya _| "And the first person to speak so lazily in an urgent situation like this is you, Meiling. It is not doubt that I have for Milady, but the willingness to serve her with my life. Especially after what has transpired in the past few weeks."

Meiling scratches her head nervously. She has forgotten that Sakuya had recently recovered her memories and consequently knowledge of her past.

_Meiling_ | "Er...sorry."

_Sakuya_ | "Know for now that your punishment shall come later, after this conflict is dealt with."

_Meiling_ | "Aww, what for?!"

* * *

Meanwhile, underneath the castle, Patchouli watches the last canister become entombed with magic runes.

_Patchouli_ | "Remember, Remilia, you have five shots, and that is all that I can support you with. The rest you must draw from your own power."

Remilia, the master of the castle, steps into place in the middle of the four canisters.

_Remilia_ | "I hear you. Using the coordinates that Reimu gave me, the first two shots should be easy to land..."

The vampire feels a buzzing in her ear, which she responds to.

_Sakuya_ _(Third Floor__) _| "_Milady, enemy ranks observed reaching within 1000 meters of castle grounds._"

_Remilia_ | "Understood, keep everyone on alert."

_Patchouli _| "Remilia, it is done now. You are cleared to engage."

Remilia smiles, summoning up her vampiric energy to activate her Lamiae Adytum.

_Remilia _| "Heh heh heh, too late, my cute little angel. The devil hath come to give you her nightmares~"

* * *

Iku's antennae spike up suddenly as the SWR reinforcement army that she and Tenshi are leading draw within a kilometer of the castle grounds.

_Iku_ | "Eldest Daughter...do you feel this...?"

Tenshi immediately draws her sword, the red flame blaze erupting like a volcano.

_Tenshi_ | "Don't need to ask me twice. There's something happening within the cast-"

Before the Celestial can even finish her sentence, the entire castle grounds births a massive scarlet magic rune that engulfs the entirety of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Two progressively smaller runes scale the upwards to the sky, and the main clock tower in the center of the castle grounds pulses with static-like vampiric energy.

_Tenshi_ | "Damn it, I want all scanners to analyze what the fuck's going on right now! ! ! I need to know if we can assault this position!"

_Iku_ | "Scanners, confirm that target energy signature is vampiric, copy? !"

_Seraph Commander_ _(Warhawk 1-1)_ | "This sort of energy signature isn't in our databases, ma'am! We can't confirm, repeat, cannot confirm!"

But the Seraph army can only watch as the main clock tower pulses one final time with vampiric energy before the thunder of a thousand cannons nearly cracks the very atmosphere in half. Two bursts of projectile vampiric energy are fired straight up into the night sky, lighting the clouds up like fireworks again.

_Tenshi _| "Track those shots! Those weren't aimed at us, they're aimed at something else! In the meantime, Callsigns Wareagle, Warhawk, and Warowl, lead the charge! Go! Go!"

Three units of aerial Seraph fighters rush the castle grounds to secure them, but -

_Seraph Fighter (Warowl 4-4)_ | _"Hey, what the hell's that? !"_

Another rune, a different one from the other vampiric ones, directly faces the wave of aerial Seraph fighters mounted on their Messengers. It is inscribed with heavy, heavy French runes.

_Patchouli_ | "[SUN SIGN]: ROYAL FLARE!"

A miniature sun explodes where the rune should be, ejecting out random columns of fire the temperature of the surface of a real sun and frying portions of the aerial forces sent to secure the perimeter.

_Seraph Fighter (Warhawk 2-1)_ | _"Holy fuck! Abort, abort! We can't face that kinda magic, we just lost almost an entire unit to that!"_

_Tenshi_ | "Belay that order! All callsigns, advance! I want this fucking castle in our hands, or no one gets to have it! ! !"

Partly out of fear, partly out of duty, the Seraph army under Tenshi breaks into a frenzied charge towards the mansion in the night as bursts of the sun's energy rain down on them like hellfire. Tenshi, too, begins to fly towards the action on a summoned Keystone, but Iku, who is still nearby, calls out to her.

_Iku_ | "Situational report, I repeat! Situational Report!"

_Tenshi _| "What the hell now, Iku?!"

_Iku _| "Eldest Daughter, one of the Keystones in your sector has been knocked offline! Please advise!"

At this, Tenshi stops dead in her flight.

_Tenshi_ | "What? ! One of them got knocked out? ! How the fuck? !"

_Iku_ | "The energy discharges we witnessed earlier, Eldest Daughter! The troops who have been guarding the attacked Keystones have confirmed that they are responsible for this!"

Tenshi bites her lip.

_Tenshi_ | "Iku, I want you to relocate to the Keystones in Mountain of Faith. Get there as fast as you can and defend those at all costs! Just don't die!"

_Iku_ | "But, Eldest Daughter, would you not prefer if I assisted with the castle takeover for now, since I am already here? !"

_Tenshi _| "I gave you a damn order, Iku, now follow it! I can handle this myself, the Hakurei army at the foot of Omachi's bound to use this as a distraction so tha they can sneak up the mountain somehow! Now fucking go already! !"

With that, Tenshi flies away on her Keystone to participate in the battle, leaving Iku with her troops behind.

* * *

_Yuuji __(Vanguard) _| "All vanguard personnel, be advised, heavy artillery fire is offline; enemy MGB's are knocking out the shells in midair! Stand by for further orders!"

The Hakurei army has pushed the Seraph army on Omachi to the summit, or what is left of it after their fight with the Guardian Omachi. However, the SWR forces had called down a horde of airborne danmaku turrets from the floating islands of Scarlet Weather Rhapsody above. These MGB's are powerful enough to knock out artillery projectiles and other forms of long-range support that the Hakurei have been shelling onto the summit, and upon the Chief of Staff's order, the front lines of the Hakurei army advancing up the forest halt and set up a defensive perimeter, trapping their enemies on the summit to the north side.

_Nitori (Artillery Controller) _| "Sir, reportin' munitions check! Running low on mortars, resupply request in half an hour!"

_Yuuji (Vanguard) _| "Acknowledged, I want all artillery to cease fire for now. It's not doing anything."

The thunder of cannon and trebuchets dies down eventually.

_Reimu (Air Guard) _| "Those turret things...they're really slowing us down...!"

_Yukari (Air Guard) _| "Neither is there an effective way to get rid of them. We destroy some, more arrive to reinforce. My question is why they have not used those MGB's to directly assault our position."

_Yuuji__ (Vanguard) _| "That's because Tenshi probably ordered them to hold position here, not counterattack us. She doesn't want to risk the chance for some of our boys slipping through their defenses and reaching the Keystone."

_Yuuka (Back Air Guard)_ | "Then what is our strategy? We have tried breaking their defense, but their barriers and MGB's have proven too strong. We'd have to use our best spellcards just to break their formation, but if we do, we risk not being able to put in the effort required for a follow-up."

_Yuuji (Vanguard)_ | "It depends. Reimu, how fast do you want us to reach this Keystone?"

_Reimu (Air Guard) _| "You know what I'm gonna say, so why bother asking?"

_Yuuji (Vanguard) _| "Then Yukari, you know what I'm gonna ask."

_Yukari (Air Guard) _| "I will warn you that because I have already used the Doom Drop for the Northern Army, I cannot recreate it again to the same extent."

_Yuuji (Vanguard) _| "Who said you'd be Doom Dropping again? Listen up, I'm opening a private channel on my frequency. All commanders who receive alerts from me, join my frequency. Warlord out."

* * *

Early evening. Nagae Iku, the secondary Celestial commander of the SWR army, arrives with her troops at the summit of Omachi, at the former site of the Moriya temple, where now a large lake sits and provides freshwater for the defenders of the mountains. She consults the lieutenant general in charge of the defense.

_Iku _| "Commander, a sitrep please."

_Lieutenant General _| "Ma'am. Our front lines have reported the slight retreat of Hakurei forces down the mountain to the north side."

_Iku _| "How far down are we dealing with?"

_Lieutenant General _| "They have retreated some two hundred meters."

_Iku _| "Then it is nothing. I want double shifts and reinforce the lines as much as possible."

_Lieutenant General _| "Ma'am, with all due respect, our boys are pulling triple shifts, and they have entrenched our positions as heavily as they can. The artillery barrages that we have taken throughout the day have significantly worn down our defenses. We've barely been able to hold out, and we can't do anything about their artillery positions at the base of this mountain."

_Iku_ | "I understand, commander, but this is Eldest Daughter's order. Please maintain our current position and do what you must to keep it. I will assist in the defense until the Keystones are ready."

_Lieutenant General _| "Ha, understood."

The commander salutes and takes control of Iku's unit as Iku floats slowly over to the Keystone. The SWR camp at the crooked summit of Omachi is built around the Keystone, which is continuing to generate energy within it and glowing a low water-blue.

_Iku _| "Eldest Daughter, it is I. I have arrived at Omachi, as you have instructed. How is the war on your front?"

There is no answer for a minute. Iku stands before the Keystone patiently.

_Tenshi_ | "...they held the castle. Like you said, Iku, they were targeting the Keystones in SDM that I had planted. That castle's obviously some sort of continental-class magic cannon."

_Iku_ | "What of the Keystones?"

_Tenshi _| "...I went back to see if I could repair them, but...whatever they shot my Keystones with, it's not letting me even touch them. I don't know why. But because I decided to retreat, we had to give up the assault on the castle."

The Keystone shakes a bit as Iku can hear Tenshi stamp her foot on the ground.

_Tenshi _| "Fuck my life, man! Why'd I have to obsess so fucking much over my Keystones! ? If I'd've just stayed 'n...'n just kept attacking, there'd've been no fucking way we couldn't've regained the castle! _GODDAMN IT!_"

Iku can almost feel the frustration bleed out into the chilly mountain air around her from the Keystone.

_Iku_ | "...what is done is done, Eldest Daughter. We must move on and consolidate our current situations as best we can."

_Tenshi_ | "...I know...but it ain't gonna change the fact that I feel like shit..."

Iku hears her companion give a very heavy sigh.

_Tenshi _| "So? Are you calling me to give a sitrep?"

_Iku_ | "Correct, Eldest Daughter. We have held our ground, but just barely. I will push out of this position tomorrow morning to attempt to break out of the Hakurei's surround on our position to the north."

_Tenshi _| "...okay. Good luck, and don't do anything stupid like I did. I'm going to sleep...don't feel like doing anything else today, on top of losing even more men..."

Iku hears her grumble and cut off comms.

_Iku _| "I will not fail you, Eldest Daughter..."

She turns to head to the tent that has been reserved for her -

_**KA-BOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

_Seraph Commander_ | "What the fuck-? ! All available callsigns, one of the MGB's that came down for repairs just exploded! Reinforce this position, protect the objective! I repeat, pro-**_KOFF!_**"

The commander's abrupt gasp and wet cough cuts off his voice over the global microphone, and within an instant, the SWR camp is up in arms.

_Iku _| "Sitrep, please! Who was in charge of MGB-102? ! Come in!"

_Seraph Commander_ | "It's the Hakurei, ma'am! They've somehow infiltrated our position! They're approaching the base and slaughtering everyone in their way!"

_Iku _| "How many?"

_Seraph Commander_ | "Unconfirmed, but it is not an army! We believe it is more a squad of specialists! Defend the base, ma'am! We cannot hold them back much longer!"

* * *

_Yukari (Overlord)_ | _"Overlord to all active personnel, your primary objective is to escort Callsign 'Fantasy' to the Keystone located at the heart of this installation! You are on your own, repeat, you will have almost no backup until the Keystone is secure! SR-71, Callsign 'Blackbird', will be online in two minutes! Neutralize all hostiles!"_

Out of two gaps on either side of the mountain summit base, to the west and to the east, Hakurei commanders are dropping out one by one and immediately engaging in combat.

_Yuuji __(Warlord)_ | "Ladies, I'm giving you until 2200 hours to get this done! Move!"

Yuuji, Reimu, Ran, Letty, Team 9, Youmu, Suika, and Yuuka are attacking from the west. Mokou, Kaguya, Eirin, Keine, Shiki, Komachi, Udonge, Momiji, Momo, and the Moriya family are assaulting from the more heavily fortified eastern flank.

_Reimu (Fantasy)_ | "Ogre Six, get rid of all the MGB's in the air! Focus on those, and then I'll let you stomp around all you want here!"

_Suika (Ogre Six)_ | "Alrighty, up we gooooooooooo~! ! ! ! !"

Suika enlarges herself to a height of sixty feet, and Yukari, who is floating on her gap high in the sky over the mountain to keep battle awareness for the operatives, observes her standing on the mountain as if the mountain is some big pile of sand. The oni flails her arms and swipes her hands, knocking down the danmaku stone turrets right out of the air.

_Seraph Commander_ _(Western Flank)_ | "Wait, how did they get past our sensors? ! How'd they get in without the MGB's seein' 'em! ?"

Kazami Yuuka suddenly appears before him, with her palm stretched behind her back.

_Yuuka (Sunflower) _| "You have worse issues at the moment than that, no?"

She swiftly plunges her hand into the commander's chest, holding his entire ribcage through his body on the other end before casually dropping him off to the side, singing "Next~"

The western squad eliminates all initial resistance within a mere two minutes. Kicking a dead enemy off the tip of her spear, Reimu calls out over the comms.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Overlord, is Blackbird online yet? ! We need aerial coverage of the rest of the base so we know how many enemies we need to deal with that're in the way!"

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird)_ | _"Yoo-hoo~ Am I too late for the party?"_

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "On the contrary, perfect timing, Blackbird."

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird)_ | _"Gotcha, broadcast uplink enabled. Feed going live...now~"_

In her usual cheerful voice, Aya uses her camera, enhanced with optical shikigami, to capture a live video feed of the SWR base at the summit of Omachi.

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird) _| _"Mmmmkay, looks like we got...I'm counting about two thousand remaining hostiles here. Our barrages earlier today really thinned out their numbers. Either that, or the rest of 'em are garrisoned on the other mountains."_

_Daiyousei (Fairy) _| "Ehhhhhh? ! T-Two thousand...? ! W-We're highly outnumbered, aren't we...?"

_Cirno (Nineball) _| "Awww, c'mon, Dai-chan, we fought 'gainst so many more 'n dat before! Besides, we're fairies, nothin' gonna happen ta us!"

_Yukari (Overlord) _| _"Be advised, ground operatives, I see troop movement from the outskirts of the summit moving up. They're responding to the distress calls of the troops you're attacking. Imperative that you hurry up if you do not want to get sandwiched."_

Yuuji summons a double-ended battle-axe and yells.

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "Let's get a move on! Youmu, clear the way for us!"

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "Understood!"

The half-ghost disappears, leaving a trail of liquid-like greenish-blue electricity in her wake. The rest of the western squad, following after her as quickly as they can, see bodies pop up into the air every which way, some even threatening to land right on top of them. Letty sidesteps one such unfortunate victim.

_Letty (Winter) _| "It seems Konpaku-san is having fun."

_Ran (Firefox) _| "Fun, you say..."

Yukari's nine-tailed familiar watches strikes of lightning flash about, amidst screams of pain from the victims with a slightly amusedly bemused look.

_Ran (Firefox) _| "For my part, I do believe the training I administered to her was beyond quite effective, but what she is doing is beyond me."

_Yuuka (Sunflower )_ | "Watch it! Some of them have gotten to their Messenger birds, brace yourselves!"

Seraph fighters, albeit half-armored because of their haste, have managed to acquire their steeds and circle overhead, planning a coordinated swoop down onto them. Letty summons her winter trident into view.

_Letty __(Winter) _| "Cirno-chan, if you will, please!"

Cirno, as she flies just over Letty's head, points up at the circling Seraph troopers.

_Cirno (Nineball) _| "[CASCADE]: ICY GLORY!"

Ice-cold water droplets condense in the air all around the Seraphs, and as they wonder why the air is becoming so humid so suddenly, Letty also points her trident up at their enemies.

_Letty (Winter) _| "AVALANCHE!"

The water droplets instantly transform into snow, and the airborne Seraph fighters, before they can react, find themselves flying underneath a thick collapsing sheet of dense snow. The squad operatives run/fly just fast enough to avoid getting squashed by the falling snow that buries the Seraphs some four feet in thick snow onto the ground.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Winter, take Team 9 with you and cover our six! Sunflower, get our three! Firefox, take out anyone who tries to get us from above! Gardener, Warlord, on me! We're going straight for that Keystone!"

_Suika (Ogre Six) _| "Heeeeyyy, Reimuuuuu, wat about meeeeee~?"

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Just keep doing what you're doing, Suika, the more of those MGB's you destroy, the easier it'll be for Overlord to get us some air support! Even if we've got some of the strongest commanders with us, fighting against two thousand people isn't gonna be a cakewalk!"

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "It's more of a cakewalk than we thought it'd be. There's far less people stationed here than it seemed when we were shelling them yesterday."

The Chief of Staff, the Half-Ghost, and the Shrine Maiden break away from the rest of their comrades and charge straight through the enemy encampment, following their waypoints to the substantial source of seismic energy that Blackbird has mapped out for them on their HUDs. Yuuji simply smacks away a Seraph soldier who tried to stop them with the back end of one of the axe blades.

_Yuuji (Warlord)_ | "Scatter, now!"

As Yuuji leaps to his left, digging his double-ended war-axe into the ground and pushing off with it for added momentum, Reimu swerves her low flight trajectory sharply to the right and digs her feet into the ground to brake. Youmu, however, simply stands her ground and raises Yorukaze just as a jagged bolt of electricity tears across the ground towards her. She yells, swinging her sword down right as the electricity is about to hit her and completely slices the energy in half. But the electricity, instead of separating into two halves around the half-ghost, now revolves around her. Myon also pulses with static electricity, and both of Youmu's blades screech with the same energy.

_Iku _| "Hm!"

The oarfish commander, suddenly appearing before Youmu, darts her pointed hand forward at Youmu' chest, aiming to impale her with her electrocuted limb. Although Youmu's senses are normally too slow to dodge this even with her own speed, the half-ghost reflexively raises her sword just in time so that Iku's hand instead strikes her weapon, and Yorukaze is flung out of Youmu's right hand in a shower of vivid blue electricity.

Youmu, roaring, swipes Hakurouken to her right, unconsciously throwing some of the elemental energy that her body has automatically attracted from Iku's previous attack along with her own attack. Iku simply catches the blade, but to her surprise, Youmu's electricity power is much stronger than she has anticipated, and her arm is stunned from Youmu's rampant energy. The half-ghost seizes the opportunity to draw back her right hand, which materializes a solid plasma energy sword, and as Iku realizes her legs are too tensed up from her own lightning to dodge Youmu's next attack in time.

Youmu's plasma blade scrapes ear-wrenchingly against Iku's psionic shield. It is barely enough to resist the harsh grinding edges of Youmu's improvised energy sword, but Iku senses the dangerous potency of the weapon and raises her left arm, a single index finger lifted up high.

_Yuuji (Warlord)_ | "Gardener, get the fuck outta there!"

Youmu, sensing the massive influx of electrostatic energy building up in her opponent, dashes back but spots out of the corner of her eye a giant blur.

_Youmu (Gardener)_ | "Warlord, that is dangerous! She -"

The half-ghost watches half in horror as Yuuji reappears off an instant movement and smashes one end of his battle-axe onto the ground, forcing Iku back further, but he is quickly charged by a reinforcing squad of seven or so foot Seraphs who have just arrived on the scene.

_Reimu (Fantasy)_ | "Get your ass down!"

Yuuji stands his ground and claps his hands together just in time to cast his Protector ability as an explosive shikigami tag enhanced with divine energy soars into his vicinity and detonates. The explosion throws the Seraph attackers out of the area and throws the place into smoky darkness.

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "Gardener, escort Fantasy to designated target zone! I'll occupy her to buy Reimu enough time to shut down the Keystone! Go, go!"

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "Understood! Please do not get hurt!"

Reimu and Youmu dash straight into the heart of the base, running over one of the hapless soldiers who had been flung away by Reimu's explosion.

* * *

_Suwako (Leaper)_ | "Rise 'n shine, my little froggies, it's time for your daily dose of curses~! ! ! !"

Frogs, ranging from the size of small boulders to tall trees, dig themselves out of the ground by the hundreds and stampede across a tight cluster of Seraph formations some few hundred feet from the center of the summit. The enemies, confused by the sudden appearance of these amphibians, are caught between a choice to attack either the frogs or the Hakurei specialists coming at them, but by the time they make up their minds, the frogs have already trampled them over.

_Kanako (Winder) _| "Suwako, I will have you know that if you are to damage the terrain of this mountain further, I will have to sanction your faith intake from the city! ! !"

Kanako hears Suwako sneer over the mic.

_Suwako (Leaper)_ | "Ah, shut up, you old hag, show me you can be the Goddess of War that I once fought who knows how long before in the past!"

The wind goddess indignantly raises her arms and clenches her fist, summoning four giant onbashira above the enemy infrastructure.

_Kanako (Winder) _| "I thought I taught you not to question my power, you miniscule frog...all callsigns, proceed directly to target zone! My attack will inflict collateral if you do not!"

_Shiki (Judgment) _| "We should be rendezvousing with Fantasy and Warlord at the center of the summit!"

The judge, escorted by her shinigami, flies low to the ground to reach their destination more quickly, as Kaguya scatters explosive dragon danmaku across the area to complement Kanako's onbashira strike, which causes the poles to crash heavily into the midst of the enemies that have hastily come out to face them. A tall column of red energy danmaku, sparkling with rainbow colors at the base, detonates high up into the air as more bodies fly with much debris.

_Udonge (Sniper) _| "Moon-sama, please take the others and assist Fantasy-sama! The wolves and I will hold the line here with the Moriyas!"

_Kaguya (Moon) _| "Very well! Eirin, let us move!"

As the designated commanders move up the slight mountain slope, the commanders who have stayed behind open fire on the survivors of the attacks of Kanako and Suwako. Udonge flips up her shikigami-powered red dot sight and headshots the easiest target to take out, while the wolves leap in and out of combat, confusing their enemies to their constantly changing positions. Momo sinks her claws into the back of one Seraph trooper and immediately swivels on her feet to punch another right up the chin, her punching dagger slicing through the lower jaw and rendering the man unable to speak.

_Mokou_ _(Phoenix)_ | "Keep our girls back, I'm torchin' dis base! ! !"

Keine, throwing an impaled enemy off her Pen Spear, quickly turns to Mokou, who is high up in the air with her fire wings active and burning bright.

_Keine (Haku)_ | "Don't hit Moriya-dono, she's still inside! ! !"

Mokou, annoyed, yells back.

_Mokou (Phoenix) _| "Well, then y'all got five seconds ta getcher ass outta here! If yer immortal, I ain't givin' a damn if I hit ya or not, doesn't matter anyway!"

Momiji and Momo slide near Keine.

_Momiji (Wolf One) _| "C'mon, Keine-san, let's get outta here! Sniper, you too, if you don't wanna get hit!"

Udonge, in the heat of combat, takes aim and shoots another Seraph right between the eyes with her last round, swings around and clocks another on the nose with the butt end of her rifle, and finishes him with a downward swipe of her muzzle-loaded bayonet, but two more soldiers charge her, blocking her retreat to get away from the impending fire strike.

_Mokou (Phoenix)_ | "IMPERISHABLE SHOOTING!"

Just as Keine and Momo run out of the range of Mokou's spellcard, Momiji jumps into the rapidly expanding ball of fireball that engulfs the are_a. _Keine begins to call out to Momiji, but Momo yells over the rushing flames.

_Momo (Wolf Two) _| "It's fine, Onee-chan's gonna get Udonge-san!"

Sure enough, right as Momo finishes her statement, Momiji tumbles back near them, dropping a slightly singed Udonge off to her left, who is busy coughing from inhalnig fire smoke.

_Udonge (Sniper)_ | "Oh God...koff...thanks, Momiji-s-san...koff..."

_Momo (Wolf Two)_ | "Onee-chan, your tail!"

Momiji's younger sister immediately tackles her onto the ground, smacking out the fire burning on Momiji's tail frantically.

_Keine (Haku) _| "Phoenix, I told you to be careful, what the heck! ! ! !"

_Mokou (Phoenix) _| "Da shit? I told everyone to get the fuck out, why're ya yellin' at me? !"

_Suwako (Leaper) _| "'tis a pity I can't just kill you outright for burning _me_, too, Phoenix. The opposition here is dealt with; Kanako, get to the center. Once Reimu's done dealing with that Keystone, we need to reestablish our faith here. It'll help clear out the skies for our tengu."


	3. The Sins of the Princess

_Youmu (Gardener)_ | "Three hundred meters!"

Hakurei Reimu, escorted by Konpaku Youmu, charge headlong into the heart of the SWR camp at the broken summit of Omachi, where the densest concentration of Seraph troopers reside.

_Seraph _| "Incoming, two hostiles! They mean fuckin' business, boys, take 'em down!"

Diviners from all angles bombard the two charging Hakurei commanders with danmaku, and some low-flying operational MGB turrets provide additional firepower as well. Reimu whips out a single shikigami tag and quickly whispers a spell before hopping off the ground to transition into low flight.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "PRESSURE CHECK -EASY-!"

As soon as the first swells of danmaku fire are about to collide with Reimu and Youmu, the tag in Reimu's right hand pulses with a bright white light, and a miniature sonic boom claps harshly around them. The tag is continuously pumping an abnormal amount of pressure to repel any incoming energy-based projectile, rendering the enemy danmaku fire useless.

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "There are too many hostiles ahead of us, Hakurei-dono! We must find an alternate path!"

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird) _| _"Blackbird to Gardener and Fantasy, that's a bad negative! Repeat, there are no alternative routes for you to take to reach the Keystone! If you are to reroute now, you'll get trapped by the reinforcements coming in from the north! Heavily advise punching your way through! That's the best option!"_

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "You heard her, Youmu, we gotta break through! Yuuji made a Pact with you, right? Show me what you can do!"

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "You mean to say that we must defeat every single enemy here if we are to advance? !"

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Is there a problem with that? !"

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "Understood, then in that case...!"

Youmu instantly disappears from Reimu's view, and before Reimu can turn her head in a futile attempt to track her, another explosion of lightning strikes dead ahead of her, and even more bodies fly, encased in waves of visible static electricity.

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "I shall handle their forces here! There is another group of enemies just ahead of us, we can save time if we split up and take them on simultaneously!"

_Reimu (Gardener) _| "W-Well, are you sure? !"

_Youmu (Gardener)_ | "Thanks to Yuuji-san, I am!"

Reimu smiles.

_Reimu (Gardener) _| "I'll leave these guys to you, then!"

Reimu zips past Youmu, flying faster than the Seraphs quickly surrounding Youmu can catch her. Myon shapeshifts into a humanoid ghost half of Youmu and grabs Hakurouken from the human half. Both Youmus are now equipped with a steel sword in one hand and a plasma energy sword in the other.

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "One hundred and twenty-two foot mobiles, Myon! Make it quick!"

Myon again uses the speed of lightning to immediately dash off the ground and run her steel sword through the face of the nearest adversary. Tossing his body up into the air, Myon spins and kicks the lifeless body into his comrades behind him, her foot setting a timed electrical charge on the corpse that detonates as soon as the body comes into contact with another solid surface, causing the corpse to generate chain electricity that zaps all the soldiers around it. The electrocuted Seraphs also crumple to the ground, their nervous systems fried and useless. Youmu throws Yorukaze so hard that it slices the bodies of two Seraphs, armor, flesh, and all, and fatally impales a third through the left lung. As the third victim is still having trouble understanding why there is a sword stuck in his chest, Youmu rushes to the soldier to his right and punches him straight in the stomach, the electrical discharge from her punch ripping the skin off his back behind her punch. As he doubles over in recoil, Youmu passes her energy sword easily through his skull, grabs her impaled katana with her right hand, and twists her body clockwise, the two bodies tumbling over one another in death.

_Seraph _| "W-Who the - what the fuck is she? ! I can't even -"

The unfortunate soldier does not even get the chance to finish his sentence as Youmu easily knocks his sword out of his hands and rips out his left hipbone with her energy sword. Three more Seraphs quickly dash in, their own swords raised, but Youmu hops up, plunges her katana right down the center of the hipless man's head, and vaults herself up into the air, leaving her sword stuck in the body. The Seraphs pause to look up to follow her movement, but they soon find their legs giving out in strength and fall to the ground, all dead. As soon as Youmu lands back on the ground, Myon, with a very bloody Hakurouken, yanks Yorukaze out of its fleshy sheath and tosses it to Youmu.

_Youmu (Gardener__) _| "Thanks, Myon!"

They vanish again, much to the confusement of their attackers, who look everywhere to see where they might have gone. Then, the agonizing screams of pain given by more than a dozen Seraphs clutching their throats as they fall to their knees dying grab the Seraphs' attention. They only grab a glimpse of the two Youmus before they vanish in a shower of electrical sparks, but they manage to spot Youmu, who appears to be completely unarmed, and Myon holding both steel swords.

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "HESITATION'S FLAW!"

The half-ghost appears right in front of another Seraph, crouching low to the ground. The Seraph, having just enough time to look down to see a shiny, molten-light green axe-like blade made of pure electricity protruding from the outside of Youmu's right arm, finds himself flying up into the air with his face and upper chest split neatly in half. Youmu has no time to watch the body flop helplessly on a tent and collapse it with its weight as she spins with the momentum of her attack and buries her left-hand lightning arm-axe into another enemy's side. Myon parries the attacks of five Seraphs at once, chopping off the legs of one Seraph, stabbing the heart of the second, hacking the third into thirds, decapitating the head of the fourth, and dismembering the limbs of the fifth.

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird) _| _"Gardener, be advised, the diviners who were going after Fantasy have rerouted! They're targeting you now! Also, Overlord will be transporting additional reinforcements soon!"_

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "Do not worry about me! Just make sure Fantasy makes it to the target zone safely!"

Youmu and Myon occupy their group of enemy Seraphs.

* * *

_Iku _| "Hmph!"

The oarfish commander parries Yuuji's axeblades with strips of her cloth as they swing mightily down onto her. Yuuji has pressured her to fall back towards the lake, away from the Keystone, and Iku splashes onto the water, standing on top of it. Yuuji follows her, swinging one of the ends of his weapon down on her head, but Iku dashes backwards to dodge.

_Iku _| "Foolish. You have taken us to an environment that surely will put you on the back foot."

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "And you think that's an advantage for you."

Iku narrows her eyes, annoyed by this man's seemingly overconfident words.

_Iku _| "Such words...how long do you think you can survive by those words alone?"

A ring of electricity pounds a disk of pressure that throws up a thin film of water, and water and electricity explode in all directions. Iku kicks up a miniature storm of lightning around her, and throws up her right arm. Lightning surges upward underneath Yuuji's feet, and the Chief of Staff barely dodges it by leaping away, grunting as the lightning sears harshly up against his right arm and rips his shirt jacket sleeve and skin. He pushes off the water's surface and draws back his blade for a strike, but Iku pumps her fist to strengthen a barrier of electricity as soon as the axe blade flies, and sparks of blue and green electricity shower them both. Yuuji uses the recoil of the blade impact to twist his body, spin his axe once, and double back for another follow-up attack, but Iku slaps her hands together and surrounds herself with explosive electricity, forcing Yuuji to assume a defensive stance, because he has no time to dodge or get out of the way.

Iku then lunges forward and tries to grab hold of Yuuji. He dodges that, but Iku manages to grab hold of his double-ended axe and floods as much energy into it as she can. The surge of electricity passes through faster than Yuuji can react, and Iku capitalizes on his temporarily stunned arms to wrap him with a quick layer of her scarlet cloth.

_Iku _| "Know the folly of your arrogance, human!"

Pulling down, Iku yanks him down into the water. Yuuji, unable to move, sees Iku also enter the water and swim towards him, her cloth in her right arm forming a lethal drill. Knowing that his arms are still recovering from the shock and that there is no way for him to escape this attack, Yuuji clenches his teeth and braces to take the hit.

_Iku _| "[FISH SIGN]: DRAGONFISH DRILL!"

The drill barrels right into his left side, and the water silences Yuuji's roar of pain as it reddens with the blood. However, the pain from the deepening wound overrides his arm's stiffness from Iku's electricity, and Yuuji quickly raises his left arm at Iku. The water helps cushion the impact of Yuuji's Reigun as it slams point-blank into Iku's drill, but the force of the energy bullet alone crushes straight through Iku's cloth drill and smashes Iku's arm, breaking it in four different places and throwing her body relatively far away from Yuuji.

_Iku _| "What in the - !"

Her right arm now limp and bloodied, Iku darts through the water back to him, but Yuuji Traces a musket, snaps his iron sights onto Iku's chest, and pulls the trigger. The water slows the bullet enough to cause it not to penetrate skin, but it is more than enough to stop Iku's extremely fast underwater flight towards him. Using the brief moment of time that he has just bought himself, Yuuji decides to summon the large compound bow and aims it straight down to the bottom of the lake.

Iku, seeing this as she grits her teeth through her pain, raises her left hand.

_Iku _| "[STAR LIGHT]: LIGHT DRAGON'S SIGH!"

Before Yuuji can fire a magic bolt of energy from his bow, Iku generates enough electricity in the lake to conduct the entire body of water with lightning. The lake's surface suddenly lights up in the night, ripping the air apart with thunder and lightning.

* * *

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird)_ | _"All personnel, be advised, I've lost comms with Warlord! Repeat, Warlord's comms are offline!"_

The panicky radio call causes Reimu's heart to skip a beat in a sudden, unfamiliar surge of terror as she performs her Wind God Kick on the last soldier of the group of enemies she had needed to clear out before advancing straight for the Keystone. By this time, the commanders from the eastern flank had created enough of diversion to draw away many of the troops that Reimu would have needed to fight, and Reimu, again flying rapidly along the path designated by her HUD, bumps her ear with the bottom of her left palm.

_Reimu (Fantasy)_ | "Blackbird, I couldn't track his position since I was busy on my end, where did you see him last?!"

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird) _| _"Over at the lake to the northwest of the main camp!"_

Reimu's heart sinks. She had just seen large splashes of water and great strikes of lightning coming from that direction.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Keep trying to reconnect to his mic! That servant of Tenshi's could have very well just fried his comms for a bit!"

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird) _| _"Affirmative, Fantasy, but I've been trying to reconnect for a good half-minute now! It should've reconnected instantly!"_

_Reimu (Fantasy)_ | "Keep trying anyway! I'm almost at the Keystone!"

The shrine maiden, not willing to deal with the clumps of enemies that she must deal with individually, swoops down on each one of them and slams the Aborior point down on top of them, generating small-scale blasts that dispatch of her foes with swift and punishing attacks. Grinding her feet against the ground to erase her airborne momentum, Reimu spins simultaneously, graciously but viciously throwing all around her a vortex of anti-personnel danmaku talismans that set anything they touch on fire. As her enemies scream and burn all around her, Reimu hurries to the Keystone that is now within plain sight of her current position.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Overlord, this is Fantasy, I've reached the primary target! Proceeding to execute! I want you to reroute the nearest callsigns to my position so they can cover me while I'm busy!"

_Yukari (Overlord) _| _"Acknowledged, rerouting nearest available callsigns! Get to it!"_

Reimu stands in front of the faintly glowing Keystone that is oblivious to all the death and destruction being wreaked around it. She calmly reverts her Aborior back into her gohei, puts her hand in front of her mouth, and begins whispering.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "...divine Hakurei arts..."

But before she can finish, Reimu senses an alarmingly huge energy signature approaching her rapidly, too rapidly for her to disengage her spell and dodge for cover.

_Iku _| "I cannot allow you to touch that Keystone!"

Reimu barely has time to glance to her left to spot Iku lurch forward from about eighty meters away when she feels something go straight through her left elbow. Looking down, she sees a bright, intense light-blue streak of lightning protruding from either end of her left elbow, and blood has already splattered everywhere on her clothes and the ground.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! ! ! ! ! ! ! !"

The pain comes all at once as Reimu is jolted out of her spell and drops her gohei in excruciating pain. The bolt of lightning jammed in her arm continues to exacerbate the pain, as if a red-hot poker was burning her arm from the inside-out. Still screaming, Reimu desperately tries to grab the lightning to pull it out, but she cannot even touch it, for it burns her right hand with equal ferocity.

_Yukari (Overlord) _| _"Fantasy? ! Fantasy, what is going on down there? ! Are you alright? !"_

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Aggghhhh! ! ! ! F-Fuck you, Yukari, does it _sound_ like I'm alright? ! Gaaaahhhhh! ! ! ! ! Owwwww, ow ow ow, make it stop, make it stoooopppp! ! ! ! ! !"

_Yukari (Overlord) _| _"Just hold out a little longer, I have Gardener relocating to your position in ten seconds!"_

But Iku has already reached Reimu first. Now standing over the fallen miko, Iku raises her drill made of cloth.

_Iku_ | "It would have been nice for you and Tenshi to have shared one last meeting with one another, Hakurei-dono. However, I am afraid I cannot allow that to happen with the given circumstances. Goodbye, Shrine Maiden of Paradise- !"

The Celestial Guardian roars, and the tip of the rapidly rotating drill drops onto Reimu's face.

* * *

_Yukari (Overlord) _| _"Fantasy! ? Fantasy! Reimu, come in, damn it!"_

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird) _| _"No use, Overlord! Her comms've gone dark too!"_

_Yukari (Overlord) _| _"No! No, no! She cannot be dead, I refuse to accept that!"_

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird) | "No, she's not! I can see from up here, she's still definitely up! But there's too much damn lightning everywhere, I can't see clearly!"_

_Suika (Ogre Six) _| _"Yooo, Overlord, I got all dem turrets, whatcha want me ta do? I tried callin' Fantasy, but she ain't pickin' up~"_

_Yukari (Overlord) | "Ogre Six, I want you to relocate to these coordinates! Support Fantasy and make sure that she does not sustain any further damage! Now!" _

_Suika (Ogre Six) | "Whoa, shit, Reimu-chan's in trouble? Betta get goin', den! Outta my way, outta my way!"_

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird) | "Yo, Overlord, reconfirm that the skies're clear for our boys in the air!"_

_Yukari (Overlord) | "Confirmed! There are no longer enough enemy MGB's online to negate our airstrikes!"_

_Aya (SR-71 Blackbird) | "Good! We're gonna shut shit down here, if you don't mind! Wheeler 2-2, Forest 10-4, you're up! I want precision strikes on these coordinates, go, go, go!"_

_Tengu Airstrike Fighter (Wheeler 2-2) | "Blackbird, this is Wheeler 2-2, we hear you loud and clear, coming in from the south, six seconds."  
_

_Tengu Airstrike Fighter (Forest 10-4) | "Blackbird, this is Forest 10-4, attack order received and processed, terminating with extreme prejudice."_

_Yukari (Overlord) | "All current callsigns on the mountain summit, converge onto the Keystone! Your primary objective has changed! Fantasy is under attack, repeat, Fantasy is under attack! Regroup with Fantasy and ensure that she does not take any more damage! You have your orders, execute them! NOW!"_

* * *

_Iku _| "K-Kuhhh...how...did you...? !"

A magenta energy arrow is pierced through Iku's right shoulder, the arm that she uses her infamous electric cloth drill with. Like Reimu's own injury, blood is seeping through Iku's clothes, and Iku can no longer control her right arm properly. She looks behind her back towards the lake that is still giving off dangerous sparks from the surface, and the Hakurei Chief of Staff, Sawatari Yuuji, is standing on the center of the lake surface, wholly unaffected by the electrified water. He is breathing heavily, but his aim has remained true despite his wounds.

_Reimu (Fantasy) | _"...Y-Yuu...Yuuji...!...ow, owwww! ! !"

Reimu squeezes her eyes, beginning to hyperventilate. She is putting all of her focus and concentration into trying to resist the enormous amount of pain that the electric bolt jammed in her damaged elbow is giving her relentlessly.

Iku begins to turn back to Reimu in an effort to do what she can to kill the shrine maiden, but Yuuji dissipates his bow and throws a single hiltless knife at Iku at high speed. He then disappears, and just as the knife is about to strike Iku square in the back, Yuuji reappears directly behind Iku, pivots on the back of his right foot, and punches the bottom of the knife handle home. Yuuji then grabs a length of Iku's floating cloth, yanks her towards him, grabs hold of her head, and breaks her nose with a swift movement of his right knee. Iku falls backwards onto the ground face-up, and the knife is pressed even deeper into her back amidst her own shrieks of pain. Yuuji stomps hard on her stomach with his left foot, pulls out his pocket knife with his right hand, and begins to stab towards the ground -

_Reimu (Fantasy) | _"N-No, Yuuji! D-Don't - ack! - kill her, we need her alive -"

Yuuji hesitates to listen to Reimu's words, but Iku capitalizes on her chance and implodes the area with a flash of bright and debilitating electric light. Yuuji covers his eyes just in time, but Iku is already some thirty meters away, fleeing as fast as she can from the scene despite her severe wounds. Yuuji turns to chase her, but he spots the bolt of lightning stuck in Reimu's arm and causing the shine maiden agony, so he instead kneels next to Reimu and lifts the injured arm to heal it.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Y-Yuuji, what're you - fuck, ow! ! ! - doing, go ch-chase her down! Capture her, ow, ow! ! !"

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "And let you permanently lose control of your arm? Is that what you want me to do?"

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Fucking shit, Yuuji, this is not the time for you to be deviating from my orders! I'm ordering you to go get her! ! !"

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "With all due respect, my Queen, I must refuse. I'd much rather make sure that my comrades and friends, especially my Princess, are safe first before going off to deal with our enemies."

Yuuji grabs hold of the bolt of lightning, albeit with no effect to his own hands. Swiftly, he yanks it out, and Reimu yells in pain as Yuuji turns and throws the bolt of lightning over to the nearby lake and watches it explode, spraying lakewater everywhere. He then meticulously fixes Reimu's arms with his healing power jut as Youmu arrives on the scene.

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "Yuuji-san, Hakurei-dono, are you two alright? ! I saw some bad lightning coming from here -"

Youmu sees Yuuji tending to Reimu's badly mangled arm and gasps, quickly getting to the ground next to Yuuji to examine it for herself.

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "Oh no...I...I am deeply sorry, Hakurei-dono...I couldn't come in time to help protect you -"

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "It's fine, Youmu. I got this."

_Youmu (Gardener) _| "B-But...but is that not a serious wound?"

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "I'm lucky I got here just in time. A few more seconds, and Reimu's arm would've been permanently paralyzed from all the electrical energy that Iku's attack pumped into her elbow. Reimu will be fine. Everyone else should be finishing up their own fights, so have everyone regroup here at the center, Youmu._"_

The half-ghost nods, and she and her humanoid Myon partner hurry away to meet up with the reinforcing operatives as the sky is filled with Hakurei tengu fighters who have arrived to secure the airspace.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "...there wasn't any need for you to have stayed behind just for me, Yuuji...! I can handle this by myself...!"

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "And you really expect me to believe that. For everything that I've done for you, both as your commander and as your friend, possibly even more than just a friend, you really thought that I would simply follow your orders and leave you behind?"

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "...what's with that tone? For everything that you've done for me? That's all because _you_ wanted to do it, not _me!_"

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "That's my point. That's all because I decided to take it upon myself, because there's no way in hell that I'd just leave Hakurei Reimu behind when she's right in front of me, screaming and suffering with a lightning bolt stuck in her arm. You think I'd do that?"

Reimu says nothing, breathing heavily and trying to stabilize her breath.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "...why are you spoiling me, Yuuji...?"

_Yuuji (Warlord)_ | "This isn't spoiling you. This is caring for someone I want to care for. Please recognize the difference."

Suika, Youmu and Myon, Udonge, Keine, and Mokou are the first ones to arrive on the scene.

_Keine (Haku) _| "Oh dear, Reimu, are you alright? !"

Keine, spying the remnants of Reimu's heavy wound, rushes over and helps Reimu sit up.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "...yeah...I'm fine...it just hurt a lot, that's all..."

The hakutaku turns to the Chief of Staff.

_Keine (Haku)_ | "Sawatari-san, is she alright?"

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Hey, wait, why won't you believe _me_? ! ? ! ? !"

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "Yeah, she's okay. I got to her in time."

Keine nods.

_Suika (Ogre Six)_ | "Damn, lil' Reimu-chan's ain't got the grit ta do shit on her own? Reminds me when she was jus' a lil' tyke, hehehe!"

Reimu slams the knuckles of her good hand into Suika's forehead.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Who's the little tyke now, huh? !"

_Yuuji (Warlord) _| "Reimu, the Keystone. You still need to get rid of it."

Nodding, Reimu gets up, shaking her electrified arm and inhaling sharply between her teeth in the after-pain. Picking up her gohei, she faces the Keystone again and completes her spell.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Get back, everyone!"

The Keystone suddenly emits a very, very loud crack that can be heard all around for a good few hundred meters. It first splits neatly down the middle, then collapses in two halves that melt into liquid and quickly evaporate into the air, leaving nothing behind.

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Four more..."

_Yukari (Overlord) _| _"Good work, everyone. Oh, by the way, Fantasy, we only have two more. I have received confirmation that Vampire's Lamiae Adytum has disarmed their two targets."_

_Reimu (Fantasy) _| "Yeah, but I need to destroy them myself."

_Yukari (Overlord) _| _"But in the case that we cannot reach those two Keystones for whatever reason, I will have them destroyed. Your personal vendetta with Hinanawi Tenshi is not worth losing this war."_

With that, the Hakurei army successfully recaptures the mountain of Omachi.

* * *

Within an hour of their takeover of Omachi, the Hakurei army has occupied the summit. They are now in a position to send air waves to the two neighboring mountains of Orime and Noir, but simultaneously they are within fire of SWR MGB's.

_Yukari _| "Yuuji, here are the reports from today's battle, and the reports of our current sitrep."

Yukari and Reimu, along with Kanako and Suwako, meet with the Chief of Staff next to the lake. Yuuji has been spending some time relaxing near the shore, staring out to the water and watching the late afternoon setting sun shine its vivid autumnal colors over the water.

_Yuuji _| "Yo, Reimu, your arm okay?"

Reimu nods, but only barely. She is sulking.

_Yuuji _| "...that's good."

_Reimu _| "I guess."

She does not look at Yuuji.

Yukari, to dispel the awkwardness in the air, hands Yuuji some papers, which he takes and glosses over, finding nothing out of the ordinary. He folds them up and pockets them to file at a later date.

_Kanako_ | "It seems that your suspicions were indeed correct, Sawatari. The Scarlet Weather Rhapsodians have been excavating this site to gain access to the dungeons below."

_Yuuji _| "And by the looks of it, they found the dungeon, but the only reason why it didn't go berserk - "

_Suwako_ | " - was because you had already defeated it."

Yuuji nods, still giving Suwako the stinkeye.

_Yuuji _| "We can only assume that the Seraph armies stationed on Noir and Orime are either planning on doing or actually doing the exact same thing. Until Blackbird comes back from her reconnaissance, we won't know how much time we're working with here."

_Kanako _| "Well, regardless, the faster we regain control of these mountains, the better. I suggest we launch full-scale assaults on both mountains at once at the very next opportunity. With this attack, we have already alerted our enemies to our current position; the fact that we have managed to retake Omachi surely is no secret to them by now. The longer we wait, the more time they will have to bolster their defenses and make our offensive operations more difficult to execute."

_Yukari _| "Kanako, please do not be hasty. While a swift takeover certainly has its validations, simply recklessly butting our heads against their positions will be extremely risky with which to follow through. I cannot allow that, both as a commander and as your friend."

_Yuuji _| "Or, how about this: I'll do the same thing as I did to the mountain we're standing on right now to one mountain of your choice. The other mountain, you can take our armies and overwhelm with."

_Reimu_ | "...you mean that...that ridiculously overpowered spell that you used during our last war...?"

_Yuuji_ | "Hammer of Dawn, yeah, that one. I don't have a problem using it again. That is, if _yo__u _two are fine with me wrecking the shit out of another one of your mountains."

_Suwako _| "Do not give me that tone of voice, pitiful human. We won't let you do such an atrocity to our lands again."

Suwako hisses at the Chief of Staff like a snake, and Yuuji icily glares back.

_Yuuji _| "You can think about that on your own time. For now, let our commanders rest. We've asked them to do a lot today with our assault on this mountain; pretty sure they'd like a night off right now without having to worry about another attack. If you want to coordinate an attack like that, Kanako, feel free, but I will change it accordingly if I see anything that I disagree with."

_Shizuha_ | "Oi, oi, don't be forgetting about us, now."

The Chief of Staff and his commanders turn to see the twin sisters of Fall, Aki Shizuha and Aki Minoriko, approach them from the newly established Hakurei camp.

_Minoriko _| "Are we to finally resolve this mystery regarding our Gardens?"

_Yuuji _| "Right, we still have that issue to resolve."

_Shizuha _| "Oh goodness, don't tell me you forgot about that already."

_Yuuji _| "I mean, admittedly, it's tough to focus our energies on both the Corruption and our current wartime enemies. Scarlet Weather Rhapsody isn't any pushover, you know."

_Shizuha _| "I mean, we get that, it's just you were making a big deal out of the Corruption before, and we still haven't done anything about it. You and Reimu-chan there were the ones who basically blackmailed us into joining you guys to begin with because of that, if my memory's not failing me just yet."

_Yuuji _| "Then as Chief of Staff, you have my word that the Corruption underneath the Garden of Eden will be dealt with after we take control of Noir and Orime. Kanako, seems like we'll be taking your suggestion for offensive assaults; I want a comprehensive battle strat ready for viewing in twelve hours. Can you do that?"

_Kanako_ | "You need not even ask. Come, Suwako, we shall have fun with this."

Kanako and Suwako turn to return to their tent, but Shizuha clears her throat loudly for attention.

_Shizuha _| "Not so fast, you two. We need to talk."

The goddesses face each other.

_Suwako _| "And what may _you _two want from us now?"

_Shizuha _| "Just for the sake of respecting privacy, we shall follow you back to your tent. No need to bother others with our own personal issues here."

Reimu, Yukari, and Yuuji watch the goddesses walk away back to camp.

_Yukari _| "Well...I suppose they can deal with their own problems, whatever they may be. Reimu, it is late, and you have all fought hard today. You should head to bed very soon."

_Reimu _| "...yeah, I think I'll do that. Good night, Yukari."

The shrine maiden princess turns and begins to swiftly walk away as well, but she stops for a second.

_Reimu _| "...you too, Yuuji. Thanks for today."

Yukari sighs and takes a seat on the spiky grass on the shore next to Yuuji.

_Yukari_ | "Reimu is not happy again, is she?"

Yuuji shakes his head.

_Yuuji _| "She didn't like it that I directly disobeyed her orders to chase down Nagae Iku and take her prisoner."

_Yukari _| "Hmm...do you think you could have captured her?"

_Yuuji _| "To be fair, yes, I could have. I wounded her quite heavily, and even though she did distract me for a second, she couldn't've gotten away fast enough if I really did want to run her down. But I didn't, so if you want to consider that a blunder on my part, then go ahead."

_Yukari _| "Mmm. Yes, strategically speaking, I would be inclined to consider that a military blunder. Strategically speaking, it would have been fantastic for us if you had captured the second-in-command to the SWR Army."

_Yuuji _| "Sorry about that, then."

_Yukari _| "Well, no, I was not asking for an apology. In fact, I am very glad that you instead chose to stay back to protect Reimu."

_Yuuji _| "Really."

_Yukari _| "Please don't give me that sarcastic tone. I am grateful that you made sure that Reimu was a higher priority. I mean it."

Yuuji sighs lightly, tossing a stone into the lake and watching the water splash up.

_Yuuji _| "Seems like Reimu doesn't have the same attitude as you do."

_Yukari _| "Oh dear...why do you think that is?"

_Yuuji _| "Her reason is the same as yours, it'd've been strategically really good for us if I'd've gotten Iku under our custody. But it's pretty clear that she doesn't want to always be protected by me. I'm fairly certain that she wants to show me that she can protect herself and do everything, even if she's going to suffer a lot for her own brazen actions."

_Yukari _| "So in other words, she doesn't want to be constantly relying on you?"

_Yuuji _| "Perhaps. You could ask her directly, but it's something along those lines. She just needs to accept the fact that there'll be situations where she won't be able to do everything on her own, and that she'll need to rely on me and everyone around her in order to get certain things done. She's taking on too many responsibilities upon herself."

_Yukari _| "Then can I ask you to talk to her about this? I mean, you two are pretty much a couple by this point. It seems it is _that _time of your relationship, eh?"

The sukima youkai giggles lightly, but Yuuji puts his hand on her head.

_Yukari _| "H-Hey..."

_Yuuji_ | "What, you don't like it? Reimu didn't really like it whenever I do this, either."

_Yukari _| "Well, I do not mind, but..._I _am not the one who needs it, you know?"

_Yuuji _| "Anyone needs it. You just happen to be next to me right now."

Yukari rolls her eyes but lets Yuuji play with her hair.

_Yukari _| "You will always be quite strange, Yuuji."

_Yuuji _| "Says everyone ever."

* * *

_Kanako _| "So what is it now?"

Kanako and Suwako walk with Shizuha and Minoriko through the Hakurei camp. The soldiers whom they pass stop and salute as they pass, recognizing their roles as goddesses.

_Shizuha _| "Kanako, what exactly are you planning?"

_Kanako _| "Planning? What do you mean?"

_Minoriko_ | "Please do not play dumb with us, Yasaka. We have been informed that recently, sometime during this war, a considerable amount of energy packed into a single signature passed by our garden. It promptly disappeared soon after."

_Kanako _| "And why must you feel the need to question me about it? What have I done to warrant this interrogation?"

_Minoriko_ | "Then who else must we question to find out what is going on with our lands? The Hakurei administration has already given us their promise that they will not interfere with our livelihood in our own Garden and our lands, and as far as we are concerned, they have kept their fidelity quite well. You, on the other hand, have oftentimes directly interfered with our activities in the Garden. Of course we have every reason to question your motives about that powerful signature that we have been alerted to. If we had known who is responsible, we would never bother wasting our time calling you out like this."

_Suwako _| "Bother wasting your time? You simpleton goddesses...I'll have you know your place."

Suwako summons forth her iron rings, but before either Kanako can stop Suwako or Suwako can react, Shizuha already has her double-ended spear directly underneath the curse goddess's chin, poised at her jugular.

_Shizuha _| "Excuse me? I thought I heard something about 'knowing one's place', I must have heard differently. Care to correct me?"

Shizuha gazes at Suwako with a stare packed with killing intent, and Suwako glares back from underneath Pyonta the hat, unfazed and also filled with killing intent.

_Kanako _| "Sigh...are you all seriously going to fight right now, of all places? We may have our qualms, but it is very unlike us as goddesses to simply fight over personal egos and whatnot here. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves."

_Minoriko _| "Yes, certainly, says the goddess who virtually stole the trust and allegiance of Tenma-san's people! Oh, how rich!"

Kanako also throws a glare over Minoriko's way, but Minoriko simply grins it off with a devious smile, knowing that she has pushed a sensitive button in Kanako.

_Kanako _| "Fine, I shall disparage what I know, it should not even be such a big deal anyway. Before the war, I had gathered with several of the Hakurei commanders who can assist me with a plan of Suwako and mine to gain more faith."

_Shizuha _| "More faith? Are you serious right now? You were given permission to establish an entire, fully functional shrine in one of the most populated cities in Gensokyou because of the leniency and generosity of the Hakurei Chief of Staff, whereas any other authority you may have lost your lands to would have never even considered to allow such a thing! And you want _more _faith? ! That's absolutely downright ridiculous!"

At this point, the four goddesses are standing in the middle of one of the major lanes intersecting the Hakurei camp. Some of the soldiers, either passing by to their own tents or those on duty, glance over to see what is going on. Suwako whispers back.

_Suwako _| "We are acting in our best interest to keep ourselves alive with as much faith as we can accumulate. Judge our actions all you want. But don't get in our way. You goddesses who have only had each other for family can never understand what we have gone through. We are doing what we consider to be necessary to our lives. We really don't need people like you to come in and tell us that what we are doing is morally wrong, because it's not. So I suggest you lay off our case before I show you what it truly means to be a goddess..."

Shizuha's eyes dart around her. Three Mishaguji, their fangs bared and poised to strike, surround Shizuha, directly burrowing up from the ground. She sighs and lowers her spear, making it disappear in her hand.

_Shizuha _| "Fine, I'll stand down. But I only do this because I know this is all for Sanae-chan, no? Sanae-chan hasn't done anything wrong. As much as we might disagree with your methods, we'll trust that you're using your best judgment. It will truly be a pity if we must fight over a poor girl who has done nothing wrong and still must see her family fight regardless."

_Kanako _| "Then if you understood this already, why confront us anyway?"

_Minoriko_ | "We wanted to make it clear that although doing this for the sake of that girl's future is acceptable and understandable, we will not allow you to exploit that fact. After all, we still do not trust you entirely to simply let you do what you like, especially when a strange and immense energy signature that you claim responsibility for has been sighted floating over our own Garden of Eden. You really do not expect us to simply sit back and watch what will happen, do you? And explain that energy signature in more detail, if you will, and why it is relevant to your 'plan' to acquire more faith."

Kanako sighs.

_Kanako _| "Very well...if you insist, then follow us to our tent, if Suwako has no issues with such. I will explain our plans there."

They travel the rest of the way to Kanako's and Suwako's tent.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Chief of Staff is visiting the Prismrivers' tent, having been called a few minutes prior.

_Yuuji _| "Hey, it's me. May I come in?"

Lunasa's voice, audibly concerned, trails out from within.

_Lunasa _| "Yes, please do, Sawatari-san."

Yuuji spreads apart the entrance flap halves to enter, and the three Prismriver sisters are inside, although they are missing their usual varying degrees of cheerful smiles.

_Yuuji _| "...well, I'll be Captain Obvious for a moment and say that there's something really wrong. Fill me in, please?"

Merlin mumbles, just so that Yuuji can barely hear her.

_Merlin_ | "...my trumpet..."

_Yuuji _| "...what about your trum - "

He stops himself as his eyes wander onto the table against the back of the tent. Yuuji walks towards it and picks up the trumpet.

It is very visibly damaged, so much so that even someone not proficient in the art of instrument caretaking can easily assume that it is beyond repair. The valves are all missing, the mouthpiece is bent nearly at a ninety degree angle up, parts of the bell are chipped and even hacked off entirely somehow, among other signs of damage.

_Yuuji _| "...how did it end up like this?"

_Lunasa_ | "We were sent to block some reinforcements that were attempting to flank our armies by surprise as we waited for the solo operatives to clear out the defenses for the rest of the army to advance up the mountain. However, during the fight, Merlin was caught in a particularly heavy danmaku shower, and one of the danmaku knocked her trumpet out of her hands. Immediately afterwards, we fought in melee combat, but after we beat them back, Merlin found her trumpet like this..."

Yuuji takes one last look at the damaged and pitiful instrument. He can easily tell that there is no feasible way for the trumpet to be repaired to its original state.

_Merlin _| "...I've always had that trumpet...I thought I'd never lose it, but...I guess it's what I deserve for being careless..."

Merlin wipes away a stray tear with a lightly bandaged hand.

_Merlin _| "...I'm just more sad that...I feel like I kinda let down Layla...I mean, she gave up her life so we can keep doing what we love doing, playing our instruments..."

Lyrica sits down on the bed beside her older sister and hugs her affectionately.

_Lyrica _| "Don't think of it that way, Merlin-onee-chan. Layla would be sad if she heard you saying that. You couldn't have seen this coming, ever. She wouldn't be mad, I promise."

_Lunasa _| "Merlin's biggest problem, besides that, is that she cannot get another trumpet until we return to the capital city. And even then, even if we do get her a replacement, she may not perform as well with it because Merlin was accustomed specifically to that trumpet."

_Merlin _| "Oh well...I'll deal with it after this war's over, Lunasa-onee-chan. I'll just put up with another trumpet for now, and I'll see to getting a good one once we have time."

Yuuji takes the damaged trumpet and packs it into its case underneath the table.

_Merlin _| "Um, Sawatari-san, what are you doing?"

_Yuuji _| "Merlin, is it alright if I hold onto this for a little while?"

Merlin looks bewildered.

_Merlin _| "Er, but why? It's completely broken beyond repair, it's not like you're going to magically fix a trumpet like that..."

_Yuuji _| "But can I keep this?"

_Merlin _| "...I...guess?"

_Yuuji _| "Alright then."

The Chief of Staff turns to leave.

_Lyrica _| "Hey, idiot, didn't you hear her? You're not even a musician, how the heck're you supposed to fix a magical trumpet like that? !"

Yuuji stops just before the entrance of the tent.

_Yuuji _| "Who said I was going to _fix_ it?"

He slips out without another word.

_Lyrica _| "H-Hey, you, what're you trying to say, you little - !"

_Lunasa _| "Lyrica, please, let him do as he wishes. He will act in our best interests."

_Lyrica _| "Dang it, Lunasa-onee-chan, why're you so trusting of him, anyway? !"

_Lunasa _| "Because he was the one who helped us find Layla. He is trustworthy as far as I am concerned. So just believe in him, okay?"

Lyrica sulks.

_Lyrica _| "He's probably just gonna screw up Merlin-onee-chan's trumpet or something..."

* * *

Many hours after the Hakurei reconquest of Omachi...

_Tenshi _| "So it was me first, now you? Fuckin' a, I'm failing this war..."

Nagae Iku, after barely reaching the Seraph forces stationed on the summit of Noir guarding the Keystone planted there, had fainted from her wounds and had woken up to find herself transferred to the main Seraph base in eastern SDM. Tenshi had personally tended to Iku's recovery process, spending some ten hours without ever leaving her side. Now, Tenshi has taken one of the peaches on her hat and is peeling it with a small fruit knife, sitting next to her bed in Tenshi's room. Iku is lying down in Tenshi's bed, too weak to move her arms or legs.

_Iku _| "...but...Eldest Daughter, those are..."

_Tenshi _| "Shut up and eat them!"

Iku senses not anger or frustration, but melancholy and regret in Tenshi's softly harsh words.

_Tenshi _| "If it's to save you, if it's to save anyone I love, this is totally worth it. I don't need these anymore - I've already eaten more than enough of these back in Heaven. Now eat."

The Celestial takes a slice of the peach and feeds it to Iku, who hesitantly takes it and chews, slowly and methodically, savoring the taste of the celestial peach and nectar.

_Iku _| "...thank you, Eldest Daughter. It tastes wonderful, just like in the days of old."

Tenshi cannot help but break out a small and very sad smile, watching Iku eat.

_Tenshi _| "...I'm glad to hear that. I'm really glad..."

Iku gazes at Tenshi's countenance, which is slowly growing distant.

_Iku _| "...Eldest Daughter? Is everything alright?"

_Tenshi _| "...is everything alright? Do you want me to answer honestly, or like a bitch?"

_Iku _| "...both."

_Tenshi _| "...both, huh. If I wanted to be a bitch, I'd say that everything's fine, everything's all fine 'n dandy."

_Iku _| "...and honestly?"

_Tenshi _| "Nothing is alright, fuck me!"

Tenshi's hands grip the plate to the point of breaking it in half, but the pressure is just short of it.

_Tenshi _| "Everywhere, I'm failing. This war's backfiring on my ass. I'm supposed to be the leader of the most advanced army in all of Gensokyou, and I'm getting shut down so easily, it's making me feel like a pathetic loser. I almost can't believe I even led a rebellion against the Prophet that barely lasted a month, just a month ago. Everything's going wrong, wrong, wrong. I feel like I can't do anything to get the victories we need, even though I think I'm doing everything right..."

_Iku _| "...but you are doing everything right. This isn't your fault. Our enemy is the Hakurei, who have not lost a single war they have ever participated in during the past year."

_Tenshi _| "But I don't care for that! I don't care about their fucking perfect war record or whatever! I care about winning! I care about winning this war, for my people, for Tenko, for you! And guess what? I get to sit here and twiddle my useless thumbs feeling pathetic and powerless every night because I can't seem to get anything going! Yeah, sure, the Hakurei're a tough bunch, but that shouldn't matter, right? But when I know that I'm trying my best, my men, my soldiers are doing their best to fight our war, and even still, even then, we're still losing everywhere, wouldn't you feel completely fucking worthless too? ! We just lost Omachi, for God's sake! Reimu's up 'n offed another Keystone with it! And there, they can easily launch warfronts against Noir and Orime, and I bet the rest of the peaches on my hat that they'll take those, too! If I go there to try to defend them, then the Hakurei army over here'll ramp up their offensives and try to run this base over, and you know how important our main base here is!"

_Iku _| "...Eldest Daughter, please calm down - "

_Tenshi _| "Calm down? Calm down? Calm down after what, Iku? Calm down after knowing that I nearly had you die for me? Is that what you want me to calm down for? !"

_Iku _| "It was my responsibility to defend Omachi in your stead. I had failed that objective. I deserve to shoulder at least part of your pain for allowing that to happen. Eldest Daughter, you are burdening too much of your responsibilities, especially those that you have no control over."

_Tenshi _| "Yeah, wouldn't that be just great, right. I would at least be able to understand if I was making mistakes. Mistakes that were costing us battles, costing us soldiers. I would get that, at least, if I was the one screwing up. But I'm not. At least, I don't think I am. And that's what fucking sucks...I can't do anything about it, even though I'm doing everything I can about it..."

Tenshi cuts another peach slice and feeds it to Iku in silence.

_Tenshi _| "At this rate, we're going to have to use Tassadar's weapon...but if I don't have to, I won't. But only if..."

_Iku _| "Tassadar-dono left us the technology for that weapon for a time when we needed it most. There is no shame in utilizing it now or soon, Eldest Daughter."

_Tenshi _| "Yeah, I'll think about it..."

_Iku _| "In the meantime, Eldest Daughter, you should have a slice yourself. It is phenomenal."

Tenshi hesitates, but she cuts a slice for herself and slowly inserts it into her mouth. Immediately, her body relaxes as the sweet peach nectar and juice seep into her mouth and tongue, its heavenly flavor revitalizing her mood.

_Tenshi _| "...you're wrong, Iku. It doesn't taste the same."

_Iku _| "...eh? Oh...then..."

Tenshi gives a much warmer smile at her friend and caretaker.

_Tenshi_ | "It tastes a hell of a lot better because I haven't tasted it in such a long while."

Iku smiles.


End file.
